I am looking for any information available on my family. My GGF is Fedele Cappetta, his father was Lorenzo Cappetto. they came from Orsara Di Puglia. And settled in Chicago. Any information is great! Thanks in advance.

The above is not the same passenger list info mentioned in the declaration of intent for citizenship in my previous entry. The ages of these two Fedele's match up though. On 1901 manifest Fedele was going to a cousin named Carlo.

That was definetly him. He came in 1901 and went back after his wife died in 1911, then came back in 1912. I also think he left and came back one other time too. I have never seen his naturalization records. I know they have 5002 S Dearborn listed as the address in several resources. Thank you.

Fedele filed a "Declaration of Intent," which was the First Step in the naturalization process.

Here's some info about the naturalization process in case you are not familiar with it.

General Rule: The Two-Step Process for Naturalization

Congress passed the first law regulating naturalization in 1790 (1 Stat. 103). As a general rule, naturalization was a two-step process that took a minimum of 5 years. After residing in the United States for 2 years, an alien could file a "declaration of intent" (so-called "first papers") to become a citizen. After 3 additional years, the alien could "petition for naturalization." After the petition was granted, a certificate of citizenship was issued to the alien. These two steps did not have to take place in the same court. As a general rule, the "declaration of intent" generally contains more genealogically useful information than the "petition." The "declaration" may include the alien's month and year (or possibly the exact date) of immigration into the United States.

Also, you say his spouse died in 1911 but never gave me her name. The link below takes you to the Illinois statewide death index for pre-1916. You can search her in that index if you don't have her exact date of death.

Thank you for all the information. I had previously not been able to find them on the 1930 census. Marianna Terlizzi was his second wife. His first wives name was Beatrice Vinezia. As far as I know she never came to the US and was told she died in Orsara. As for the Butler, PA, I had seen that on the manifest. Although, when I asked my elder family member she didn't know the family had ever been in PA. We were always under the impression that the older generations had stayed in Chicago. Thanks again!

I only recently found this website on genealogy. If you are still tracking, I might have some more information about the Cappetta family.

On a trip to Orsara di Puglia in 2008, I asked a friend to look up information about my grandparents (my grandfather was Pasquale Pagano and his wife Guilietta Mastropieri). The information that was sent to me indicated that my grandfather's grandmother's name was Maria Maddalena Cappetta. Searching the ship manifests through Ellis Island, I learned that my grandfather (Pasquale Pagano) was accompanied in 1909 by many people from Orsara di Puglia, including Michele Cappetta who was headed to Chicago. My grandfather went to Butler, PA, but ended up in Pittsburgh. Michele identified his destination as Chicago, with his father, Fedele, at 4908 Aurora Ave, Chicago. I am not certain of the street's name; it wasn't clear on the manifest. At any rate, if you are still interested, it seems that the Cappetta, Terlizzi, Pagano families are relatives according to 19th century documents.Do you have any more information on the Cappetta family in Chicago?Michael Pagano

Sorry if this ends up on here twice....I am still researching my family. I have noticed the last name Pagano in my research. I am going to go thru my papers and see what I can put together. Michele Cappetta was my great grandfather, making Fedele my great great grandfather. I am interested to know anything you might have figured out already. Can't wait to hear more.

Gina,Here's some more informtion that I found: Pasquale Pagano was born in Orsara on May 23, 1806, the son of Michele Pagano and Lucia Monaco. He married (don't know when) Maria Maddalena Cappetta who was born in Orsara on Nov 23, 1806, and she was the daughter of Pietrantonio and Emanuela Terlizzi (I don't know Emanuela's maiden name).

This union of Pasquale Pagano and Maria Maddalena Cappetta produced at least one child, Michele Pagano (born Nov 19, 18380, who fathered five children, one of whom was my grandfather, also Pasquale born on Sept 12, 1885.

On the basis of this information and the previous reply (about my grandfather accompanying Michele Cappetta on a trip from Naples to Ellis Island along with many others from Orsara), I deduced that Pasquale Pagano (b. 1885, my grandfather) and Michele Cappetta were probably first cousins. Does that match with your information?

Also, my grandfather, Pasquale Pagano, married into the Mastropieri family of which there are still a few in Orsara, including the Cericola, Acquaviva and Bolsa names. Do any of these names connect to your genealogy?

Look forward to learning more from you. btw, are the Cappettas still in Chicago? (I moved to Chicago 12 years ago)

To be honest, I have been doing this for a couple years and don't know too much about anything that happened before coming to the US. I have a distant cousin that does research as well and she only got back to the generation that would have been born around 1845. I don't have any of those names in my tree (that I know of!) but like I said I don't know very much about what happened in Italy. I have to assume they are related some how, I mean Orsara is not that big and how many Cappetta's can there be! My only concern, although on a personal level, is that my Great great grandfather, Fedele Cappetta's second wife's last name was Terlizzi, which means the families were married at least twice! My living Cappetto relatives are still in Chicago, although mostly in the suburbs now.